>
>
The Championship gets underway this weekend and one of the pick of the fixtures is newly promoted Southampton hosting Leeds United.
It is a clash between two big clubs that are looking to get themselves back in the Premier League as quickly as possible. In fact, they will both be aiming for a promotion push in the next few months.
Referring to each team specifically, Southampton are actually being backed by many for a place in the play-offs this year despite only just returning to the Championship following two years in League One.
They will perhaps look to follow the example of Norwich City from last year. The Canaries returned to the Championship and continued the momentum from the recent League One season to make it back-to-back promotions. This has to be the aim for Southampton.
Under manager Nigel Adkins, they have a good squad of hard-working players and there is no doubt they can compete in this league. In Lee Barnard, Rickie Lambert and Jonathan Forte they have goals in their team and this is obviously a crucial element to success.
They certainly don’t fit the mould of a newly promoted team and they will feel at home in the Championship. Then, if a good start is achieved, who knows what can happen.
As for Leeds, they missed out on promotion to the Premier League last year, finishing three points outside of the top six after a season of being in contention for the majority.
They will be hoping to make it this year though. They have lost Bradley Johnson to Norwich City and Kasper Schmeichel to Leicester City, but have largely kept the same squad and added Michael Brown, Andy Lonergan and Paul Rachubka.
Once again, they will be relying upon the goals of Luciano Becchio and the creativity of Robert Snodgrass to get them ticking although Becchio is likely to miss the start of the season through injury.
Looking at the betting markets for this match, home advantage makes the Saints slight favourites, but Leeds will into this game with plenty of belief in their ability. At around 2/1, an away victory is perhaps a good shout.
As for the first goalscorer, Barnard and Lambert cannot be separated for Southampton, while Max Gradel is the most likely to score for Leeds United.
This game is live on Sky on Saturday evening and it should be an entertaining encounter with both teams going for the win in front of a packed stadium.
